“When you think about some of the patients you’ve treated over the years, are there any in particular that stand out as particularly remarkable?”

“Yeah there are, I can think of one patient who I have seen in my previous practice in Connecticut who came down to visit me and had a lump on his back and the lump was when I biopsied it was loaded with white blood cells now look like it was a lymphoma. Interestingly enough he had been exposed in his work to a very potent solvent for many years for over 20 year to a very potent solvent for many years for over 20 years as a typewriter repair man. It was a former trichloroethylene as I immediately suspected that there was a connection and I did some things such as gave him some different supplements that helped him remove that material from his body as well as giving him some supplements which have been known to be effective in various kinds of cancer. The next time he came back there was no lump to be found.”

“Wow!”
“Have you noticed that you’ve treated people who have certain mental block or mental hang ups and give a talk to them about what those are and then when they resolve their skin conditions go away?”

“There are definitely people who I’ve use techniques on to release various kinds and anxieties and stresses in conflicts. One of those techniques is new modulation technique which involves tapping on acupuncture points along with a series of suggestions to release things. I had a patient with herpes aster which was I’m threatening to involve the eye and possibly even threatening to cause blindness because of its location on the nose. That patient didn’t want to take the medications that would have easily worked, so I used this technique and the next phone call I got was it’s all better so that was a great relief for me as well as for her. I’m there are a number of other techniques and I had the privilege in the past six months of meeting John Sarno who does a lot of work with psychosomatic issues where they are or hidden underlying problems leading to the cause disorders in some of my work is leading people to that kind of release.”

“That does have an important role in a lot of ways but I must say that the word as to physicians is kind of a red flag they see detoxification is bizarre because they’re not really saying what are you de toxic about, but when you really look carefully at the medical literature you see that there are a lot of different kinds toxicity that exist me from heavy metal toxicity to inability of the livers P 450 system for preparing altering bio transforming in getting rid of different substances that we take in like medications and in other chemicals. Toxins are real it’s just a word that is highly reactive word to my colleagues.”

“It comes down to them total environmental causes and how the cultural specific things that we’re doing. That we don’t see because we are like in a fishbowl we say oh that’s you know. I’m on a normal diet normal American day, but did you know no American diet includes 140 pounds of sugar per person per year! That really year is something that they are species didn’t grow up with. You had to work awfully hard 150 years ago to find a hundred pounds or 150 pounds sugar to eat. We are in a situation it’s very different we call it normal. I look at many of those kinds of things make shifts in them and watch the benefits that it that occur and people who work with me have that kind of benefit.”

“I would imagine that many patients want instant gratification and they probably get that when they go to a traditional dermatologist. I would imagine your methods take a lot of time is that correct?”

“They take more time the effect is not as instant as a shot of steroids in the arm where things calm down right away but many people do experience a calming down occurring you know within the days and weeks after they have start the program. The nice thing is it doesn’t go away when they start putting something on their skin.”

I recently read a column in the New York Times by Jane Brody titled “Trying Anything and Everything for Autism.” In it, parents of an autistic child find success with alternative treatments, but are unsure whether the treatment relates to the child’s improvement. The article quotes a physician from England who suggests that alternative treatment for autism like avoiding dairy is like returning to the Dark Ages.

What emerges from Jane Brody’s column minimizes the two important positive responses that the boy, Casey showed to the alternative treatments of dairy-free diet and hyperbaric oxygen. The difficulties of avoiding certain foods are emphasized, but compared to the Behavioral Approach, which is promoted but requires working with a child for 30-40 hours per week, dietary restriction should be relatively simple.

Other non-conventional treatments are also based on scientific data. Genetic defects found in some autistic children in a biochemical pathway called “methylation,” respond to correction with a combination of B-vitamins and other
supplements. Yeast overgrowth in the intestines irritates the lining and allows undigested food molecules to leak into the circulation and irritate the immune system. This can be corrected by diet changes and supplements. Since specialized immune cells are involved in the nervous system, it is not hard to imagine that improper dietary stimulation of the immune system could interrupt proper brain development. Far from the Dark Ages, we can begin to understand multifactorial Autism by connecting scientific basis to anecdotal evidence.

My medical colleagues who specialize in autism treatment use the above science-based and other forms of analysis and therapy. It would be a shame if parents, physicians, and researchers don’t vigorously pursue these connections that may lead to effective treatment.

The Holidays are a time for parties, celebrations, and special treats. Candies, cookies and cakes appear as gifts and thank you’s at all sorts of homes and businesses at this time of year. It is not uncommon to hear a nudge to eat that “forbidden treat”- “Go ahead, it’s the holidays.” In the process, a lot more sugar gets eaten at this time of year. Other rich foods, like egg nog, and alcoholic drinks, and even foods suspected of being allergic, get consumed as well.

Some people date the onset or aggravation of their skin problems to this time of year. Sugar aggravates acne and other conditions by a variety of different pathways. It
favors overgrowth of yeast in the digestive tract, which leads to leaky gut, absorption of allergens from food, and inflammation of oil glands.

A spike in blood sugar is answered by a spike in insulin levels, and then a rise in Insulin-like growth factor (IGF). This IGF has been shown to affect the follicular area in more than one way that leads to acne formation. This is just one way in which too much sugar can lead to a skin problem.

Other rich foods, alcohol, and allergy producing foods all have ways in which they can aggravate not only acne, but other skin problems.

So I wish you a sweet New Year and Holiday season, filled with love and deeper joy, but light on the sugar in its many forms. This is the one of best possible natural acne treatments.

To your health,

Alan M Dattner, MD

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As always, the content of this blog is for information and education purposes only, and should not be used to prevent, diagnose or treat illness; please see your physician for care.

Natural acne treatment is complex, and there are a number of factors determining what will cure your acne, as compared with someone else’s.

Here’s one issue: there have been a number of studies regarding acne that have confused rather than clarified the understanding of what to recommend for acne problems. One of the biggest confusions comes because acne sufferers differ in what causes their acne:this is not a single condition with a single cause.

Studies on acne and chocolate have been done because there are many people who, over the years, have observed acne outbreaks after eating chocolate. For some of those people, eating chocolate occurs when they also binge on sweets or eat poorly and leave out vegetables from their diets. These factors are often left out of studies.

One key study on the effects of feeding chocolate bars, versus similar-tasting bars without chocolate, was published by Dr. James Fulton in 1969. The study observed no difference in acne in those who ate the chocolate versus the placebo bars, and concluded that chocolate had no effect on acne. Thus, an entire generation of dermatologists was trained to believe that chocolate had no effect on acne based on this and other studies.That study is now considered to be flawed in its methods, and its conclusions not valid.

Clearly, there are some people who break out from eating chocolate, some people who beak out from binging on chocolate, and others who seem to have no outbreak. Some may be additionally aggravated by the milk products, sugars, or oils in milk chocolate, or be eating the chocolate to deal with stress or depression, any of which factors could aggravate acne.

So, the relationship between eating chocolate and acne is not a simple matter, and should not be dismissed with a simple statement, but rather be evaluated in the larger context of the overall habits and responses of the individual. If there is a suspicion of a relationship (between a particular food and an outbreak), and you want to treat acne naturally, without drugs, chocolate should be stopped, and re-added later to see if it causes outbreaks.

I want to tell you about some of the fascinating things about hair care I learned as I review my notes from the American Academy of Dermatology Conference recently.

At a really interesting seminar on hair disorders, speakers covered basic biology, rare disorders, and common conditions affecting the hair. The hair shaft, made up of strands of protein, is covered by a “cuticle” of overlapping scales which protect and hold together the shaft.

Over-Brushing

Activities such as over-brushing removes the scales making up the cuticle and allows the shaft to come apart, making the shaft frizz and become weak. Scratching the scalp or hair has the same effect. The result is broken hairs and the impression that hair is not growing. Some conditioners and combing products are available with special lubricants
which reduce friction and reduce the removal of the cuticle scale.

Heating Wet Hair

Another way to damage the cuticle layer is to wet the hair and then heat it with a curling iron or a hair dryer that
is too close. The overheated water turns to steam inside of the hair shaft, forming tiny gas bubbles which cause the “cuticle” to burst off. It was really fascinating to see this close up with a scanning electron photograph showing a lot of bulges from the gas bubbles forming in a wet, heated hair. Hair treated this way looks frizzy, smells burned,
and breaks easily.

Pressure from standing upright creates pressure in the legs and leads to enlarged leg veins. This pressure makes the valves in the veins ineffective, in effect turning the little systems of blood veins in the body into one long vein. This pushes fluid out into the
tissues, causing swelling of the legs and varicose veins.

Reversing gravity by elevating the legs is a great natural treatment. Another natural treatment is the use of horse chestnut extract, which contains multiple bioflavinoids including a flavinoid called escin. Horse chestnut products are standardized based on escin concentration, as this is considered to be the active ingredient. It has multiple beneficial effects. The other bioflavinoids present in the extract work synergistically with the escin.

As a bioflavinoid, ascin strengthens the capillaries and blood vessels. It prevents leakage of material through the capillary walls by supporting the layer of cells that form the inner lining of the blood vessels. That reduces the amount of leg swelling from leakage of fluid. It also has constrictive effects on the vessels.

Elevation of legs and horse chestnut use are just a few of the ways to support leg varicosities. Since there are other steps to take, possibilities of slowing the process if action is take early, and dangerous consequences if clots form in
these vessels, it is important to get evaluated by your physician when leg vein problems begin.